AMVETS Jobs

Summary The position is for a Contract Specialist at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Commodities and Services Acquisition Service (CSAS) and will have the responsibility for procuring supplies, equipment, and personal and non-personal services through sealed bids, negotiated contracts, Multiple Award Schedule, or by negotiated discounts from commercial price lists. Responsibilities This is a non-bargaining unit position. The initial application review cut-off for this job announcement is 50 applications. The first 50 applications received will be considered first. Applications received after the initial cut-off number (50 applications) may not receive consideration unless otherwise requested by management. If management requests additional certificates, applicants will continue to be reviewed in groups of 50 in the order they applied. Note: Submitting multiple applications will change the order in which your application is reviewed. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Total Rewards Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Available if management approved Telework: N/A - This is a remote position Duty Location Status: Will work remotely from home Position Description Title/PD#: Contract Specialist/ PD44017A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Required Physical Demands: Work is generally sedentary with no special physical demands. Visits to VA customer / user contract sites will be required Major Duties: Responsible for originating and developing acquisition strategies, selecting appropriate contracting approaches, pre-award functions, award of contracts, and contract administration. Ensures performance of all necessary actions for effective contracting, ensuring compliance with the terms of the contract, and safeguarding the interest of the United States on its contractual relationships. Ensures that proposed contracts are authorized by law and that sufficient funds have been made available for obligation; ensures that contracts received impartial, fair, and equitable treatment; and requests and considers the advice of specialists in audit, law, engineering transportation and other fields as appropriate. Serves as technical expert to management, customers, and industry on acquisition regulations and policies. Represents and speaks on behalf of CSAS in conferences with industry on acquisition policy. Prepares solicitation documents, incorporates provisions such as cost and pricing standards and documentation requirements, testing procedures, evaluation criterion, socio-economic program requirements, delivery schedules, acceptance terms, and guarantees. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/25/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. Provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade. Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. AND You may qualify based on your as described below. Individual Occupational Requirements: 1. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field; or 2. At least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. Exception: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupied on January 1, 2000. A transcript must be submitted with your application. AND Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Ability to demonstrate knowledge of various contracting methods, contract types, regulations, policies, procedures, and requirements. Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the pre-solicitation and solicitation principles, requirements, and processes; including acquisition planning for large programs. Ability to demonstrate knowledge of source selection principles and techniques. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Contracting/Procurement Principles and Procedures Pre-Solicitation Contract Administration Communication Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation). The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties. To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/alph-ndx.asp. Education There is no education substitute or requirement for the GS-12 level. PLEASE NOTE: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.